


Trouble on the Third Floor

by emeraldxcity



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, alternate universe where the band doesn't exist, and luke and ashton never met, based on a plot from tumblr
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-15
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-25 10:40:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2618801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldxcity/pseuds/emeraldxcity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke is a single seventeen year old father, taking care of his infant. He lives in an apartment complex where his neighbors aren't too happy about his daughter's wailing in the middle of the night. Luke is stressed and tired and just needs to get his daughter to sleep but nothing seems to be working.</p><p>Ashton is a college student who lives, unknowingly, across the hall from Luke and his daughter. For the past week he's been cramming for finals, but it's hard to concentrate with a screaming baby somewhere in the complex that seems to always start crying once Ashton has really gotten into his studying. One night, he's had enough and goes out into the hallway to find an attractive blond pacing the hallways, rocking a baby in his arms. So instead of yelling, he offers to help</p><p>Or:</p><p>The one where Luke has a baby and can't get her to quit crying and Ashton, his annoyed neighbor, offers to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. No more crying, please.

_Okay Ashton, focus. The exam is in two days and if-_ There it was. The shrill screaming of a baby that pierced his eardrums every single night. Ashton had no idea what floor the baby was on, but it's parents needed to start doing something about it's crying every single night for HOURS on end. How was Ashton supposed to pass his exams if he couldn't even hear himself think while he was trying to study? If he couldn't even get any sleep?

The cries became louder and the male nearly snaps the pencil in his hand before he stands up, nearly knocking his desk chair over in the process. He'd had enough, he couldn't handle it anymore.

Ashton headed to the door to go find wherever the baby's parents' apartment was with every intention of giving them a long lecture that would hopefully make their ears bleed as much as he was pretty sure his own were from all that stupid crying and screaming. He angrily opens the door and steps out to find a tall, blond teenage boy pacing the hallways with a crying baby in his arms. He opens his mouth to snap at the boy but then he turns around and Ashton gets a good look at the blond. His hair was messy, sticking out at odd angles. He looked like he hadn't shaved in days and his eyes were bloodshot with dark bags underneath them. He looked practically dead on his feet and Ashton felt his anger fade. "Sorry." The blond says as he spots the college student standing there. "She won't stop crying. I've tried everything and I don't know what to do." His voice sounds desperate and like he might be on the edge of crying. 

Ashton bites his lip, running a hand through his own messy hair. "Uh, don't worry about it. Just uh, taking a break from studying." The blond gives him a small, tired smile before turning his attention back to the infant in his arms, cooing at her and trying to get her to calm down. 

The older boy stood there for a moment, awkwardly, before he decides this can't go on any longer. He can't stay up tonight because of a crying baby in the hall. "Look, I'm going to be straight with you. You look like you could use some sleep and I really need to study. So, if you'll let me, I'd like to help you which will, in the end, help all of us." He walks over to the boy, holding out his arms. "May I?" The blond gives him a look, keeping the child nestled close to his chest. Ashton's voice softens. "Listen mate, I have two younger siblings, I know how to take care of babies." The younger still looks wary, but after a moment, he gently hands her over, knowing if he doesn't get sleep soon, he's going to pass out. 

Ashton gently takes the baby in his arms and nestles her head against his neck, rocking her gently. "My mom used to do this with me and my other siblings. It works better if a guy is doing it. The vibrations from talking kind of lulls them to sleep." He explains, the baby already starting to quiet down some. "I'm Ashton by the way." The blond smiles. "I'm Luke." Ashton notices that Luke is visibly relaxing now that he knows Ashton only has the best intentions and that the infant is actually starting to calm down. "What's her name?" "Alice. Or Allie for short." Ashton smiles, continuing to rock the girl as she finally stopped crying. "That's cute. Did you just like the name or did you name her after someone?" He asks, knowing if he stopped talking the baby would start crying again. "I just liked the name." Ashton noticed that Luke hadn't mentioned anything about Allie's mother and he also noticed she didn't seem to be anywhere around. "How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?" He asks, mainly out of curiosity. He looked pretty young, younger than himself anyway. "Seventeen." He answers, leaning back against the wall of the hallway. "Oh." "Yeah..." Luke replies, clearing his throat. "Her uh.. mother didn't want to keep her and I wasn't going to let them take her to an orphanage or something. It's crazy, I mean, I didn't expect raising a kid to be easy, but I didn't expect it to already be so hard right from the beginning." Ashton nods, not really relating, but understanding at least. "It'll get easier. You're new to it and you're on your own. Right now you're still trying to figure things out. You just need a little help, that's all." He says with a smile, glancing down to see Alice had her eyes closed and was seemingly sleeping. 

After a few more moments, he offers her back to her father and he takes her back, careful not to wake her up and he copies the position that Ashton had her in a few moments before. "Thanks, really. I appreciate it." Luke says with a tired smile. "No problem. If you need anything else, I'm just in that apartment over there." He says, pointing over his shoulder to the door behind him. "I'd be happy to help." _Especially if it meant he could study in peace._ Luke nods. "Thank Ash, I'll see you later." The older boy smiles at the nickname, nodding before heading back to his apartment, quietly closing the door. He sits back down at his desk, turning his attention back to his books, a smile still on his lips as he thought about the scruffy boy in the hallway who was probably tucking his daughter to bed right now and falling asleep on the couch. 

Maybe crying babies weren't always so bad.

Maybe their dad's weren't either.


	2. Awkward Encounters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ashton was finally able to study and doesn't feel so stressed. After taking his exams, he runs into his neighbor again and they have another friendly conversation.

Ashton was exceptionally cheery today as he walked up the stairs to the third floor of the apartment complex. He'd just got finished taking his exams and he was almost positive that he'd done fairly well. Well enough to pass at least. He hums quietly to himself as he fishes his keys from his pocket and unlocks the door to his apartment, heading inside and dropping his bag by his desk. It was still early in the afternoon and Ash wasn't quite sure what he was going to do with the rest of his day. He decides that first, he should probably head downstairs and check his mail considering he hadn't done so in a few days. He grabs his mailbox key and heads downstairs, still quietly humming a greenday song to himself. 

The college student smiles as he sees a familiar blond head however, it was much neater than when he'd seen it last he thinks to himself as he steps up beside Luke to check his own mailbox. He notices that the boy has shaven and their are no longer bags underneath his eyes. "Hey." Luke greets, looking up from the mail in his free hand, Allie in the other, with a smile. "Hey." Ashton replies, pulling mostly junk mail from his box. "I take it my little trick worked? I haven't heard Allie cry much in the past few days." The college boy says, closing the box. "Yeah, it has. Thanks again, really. I haven't gotten this much sleep since she was born." The blond replies with a bright smile. "No problem mate." 

Both males start heading back to the stairs, the baby making small cooing noises making Ashton smile. "So uh, how did your test go? You said you were studying the other day, right?" The older boy nods. "I think it went well. We won't get our grades back until the end of the week, but I feel like I at least passed." "That's good." The blond replies as they reach the second floor and head up the next set of stairs. They're mostly quiet as they ascend the stairs, neither really knowing what more to say. They reach the third floor and stop in front of their doors. "So... see you around?" Luke asks, his hand already on the door knob. "Yeah, see you around." Ashton agrees before heading into his own apartment

It continued just like that for weeks. The two boys would always seem to end up at their mailboxes at the same time and they would always walk back up to the third floor together. Both boys wondered if the other was getting to the mailboxes at the same time on purpose, but neither ever asked or brought it up. Luke continued to take care of his infant daughter and work from his living room while Ashton continued to go to college and spend most of his nights up studying and stressing over his books.

Today was different though. Today was Sunday and Sundays meant no mail. Sundays meant no work for Luke and no studying for Ashton because his professor didn't believe in giving tests on Mondays. So Ashton sat on his couch, bored out of his mind. He had no tests to study for, no homework to do, no mail to check, no projects to be turned in... he hadn't felt this underworked since middle school and he didn't know what to do with himself.

Finally he decided that it was around lunch time and he should probably eat something, even if he wasn't hungry and it was just to cure his boredom. He heads into the kitchen searching the cabinets first. _Ramen, spaghettios, ravioli... yuck, yuck, yuck._ He closes the cabinets and heads to the fridge. _Yogurt, milk, butter, and a bottle of ketchup._ The college student sighs, closing the fridge. He really needed to go to the grocery store soon. He heads back to the cabinets to see what sort of ingredients he had. He finds that he has everything he needs for pancakes and gets to work. He realizes, just as all the dry ingredients are stirred, he has no eggs. _Freaking moron_. He groans out loud. It looked like he'd be going to the grocery store anyway _unless..._

Ashton bites his lip, weighing the pros and cons of going across the hall and asking Luke for an egg. After fighting with himself for several minutes, he finally combs a hand through his hair and heads out his door, stopping in front of the door across the hall. He quietly knocks, just in case Allie is asleep. He'd hate to be the reason she wakes up and starts crying. 

After a few minutes, Luke opens up the door, a smile appearing on his face as he see's Ashton. "Hey Ash, what's up?" He asks, leaning against the doorframe. "I uh, I was wondering if I could maybe borrow an egg? I'm trying to make pancakes and I've realized that I'm out of eggs." The blond chuckles softly before nodding. "Yeah, sure. Come on in." He says, turning around and padding through the living room to the kitchen, leaving the door open for the older male. Ashton hesitantly steps into the apartment, closing the door behind him before following Luke to the kitchen.

The blond opens up the fridge and takes out an egg, handing it to Ashton as he closes the refrigerator door. "Thanks." "No Problem." The boys stand there awkwardly for a moment before Ash clears his throat. "So I'll uh.. see you around?" Luke bites his lip and nods. "Yeah. See you around." Ashton quickly heads out of Luke's apartments and into his own, banging his head against his closed door once he's inside. "Idiot!" He exclaims to himself, letting out a loud huff. 

Still pouting at his own idiocy, he goes into the kitchen and finishes mixing up his pancake batter. He ends up making two and gets two plates from the cabinet, placing one on each plate. He puts butter and syrup on them both before carrying one to the door and out into the hallway to lightly knock on his neighbor's door again. Luke opens the door once more and before he can even say anything, Ashton is already talking. 

"Uh, hi again. Sorry I'm a complete idiot and apparently really rude. I brought you a pancake." Luke laughs softly, smiling at the boy. "Uh, it's fine. I didn't think you were rude and... thanks." He says with a smile, taking the plate. "Oh, cool." Ashton replies, biting his lip. _You're doing it again you idiot_. "So I'll uh, see you around?" Ashton says awkwardly before disappearing back into his own apartment, not giving the blond time to say anything. Luke furrows his eyebrows. "See you around." He mutters to no one, quite confused, before he heads back into his apartment. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More???


End file.
